Sal Island: Sea Turtle Experience from Santa Maria
Recommended by 90% of travelers
Badge of Excellence
Santa Maria, Cape Verde
- 2 hours (approx.)
- Pickup offered
- Mobile ticket
- Offered in: English
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What's Included
- Private transportation
- Specialized nature guide
- Hotel Pick-up and Drop-off service included
- Liability insurance
- infrared lighting
Meeting and Pickup
Pickup points
Select a pickup point
Pickup details
From the reception of your hotel or accommodation, airport or other departure point previously agreed with the client. If you don't see your hotel or accommodation in the list above, send us your address and we will pick you up there. The guide will be fully identified with a badge, Sal Experience shirt and a yellow sign with Sal Experience written on it.
Operating hours.7:30 pm
What To Expect
1
Praia de Santa Maria
2
Santa Maria
3
Ilha do Sal
Additional Info
- Confirmation will be received at time of booking
- Not wheelchair accessible
- Near public transportation
- Infant seats available
- Most travelers can participate
- Wear dark colored clothes and comfortable walking shoes.
- Expert guides who will offer you a unique and environmentally conscious experience for turtles and visitors alike.
- The observation of nesting depends on environmental factors and is not guaranteed. However, in the last 5 years, the success rate has been 100%.
- It is necessary to be physically fit to walk.
- We provide lights that allow you to take photos and make videos. Photos/videos with flash and white lights are not allowed.
- People under the effect of alcohol cannot participate in order not to disturb the natural habitat of sea turtles.
- To ensure a safe and respectful experience for both you and the turtles, remember to wear dark clothes and comfortable, closed shoes when observing them, especially at night. Why dark clothes? Light or bright colors can scare and disorient turtles, especially puppies. When wearing black, dark brown, dark green, dark blue, dark gray or other dark shades, it helps us minimize disturbances and mix with the environment.
- Thank you for choosing our turtle observation experience! To ensure the safety and well-being of the turtles, in accordance with the new guidelines of the Ministry of the Environment, the activity time is variable and can occur between 19:30 and 22:30 depending on the conditions of the day and the regulations. Transport time will be confirmed on the morning of the event day.
- Turtle experience is not recommended for people with reduced mobility and children under 3 years of age.
- Not recommended for people with nictophobia
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 10 travelers
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Cancellation Policy
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Traveler Photos
Featured review
Sara_L
Excellent experience, our guide was very informative.
We saw 3 turtles laying their eggs, which was great as it is early in the season.
The walking distance isn’t too far but it does depend where the turtles have been spotted.
Highly recommend.
Reviews
4.6
based on 141 reviews
Shaun_S, Oct 2025
Need the wear dark clothing and enclosed sed shoes if you have them and no white light and no strong scents should he worn
dstrafling, Oct 2025
Absolutely incredible experience, completely eco-respectful, the Loggerhead Turtle laying her eggs, covering them then heading back out to sea for 4 years genuinely moved us to tears 🥰
Simon_T, Sep 2025
Anazing experience with Chan, our guide who took us to a mother turtle laying eggs and we saw how she covered over the nest carefully and made her way back to the sea. It was an incredible experience
Colin_M, Aug 2025
A unique experience which I would recommend to anyone visiting Cape Verde. Nature at its most interesting.
Nade_A, Aug 2025
We went on Turtle Experience, Nani picked us up from our hotel, small group of 10 & drove us to the beach, we had a 10 min lesson all about the turtles then he got a call to say we had struck gold!. We got to her as she was laying her final half of eggs, we watched her cover them, make a fake nest & return back to the sea!, we also saw the work the conservationists do, not just with the turtles, but the security & patrols too, it was amazing, they are truly dedicated.
On the way back to the hotel Mom & I were chatting to Nani, you can tell he absolutely lives & breathes the turtles.
Angela_C, Aug 2025
Enjoyable and informative evening. The turtle was protected by only allowing red lights, small numbers at a time to view and only viewing from the back.
Sara_L, Jul 2025
Excellent experience, our guide was very informative.
We saw 3 turtles laying their eggs, which was great as it is early in the season.
The walking distance isn’t too far but it does depend where the turtles have been spotted.
Highly recommend.
Elaine_s, Jul 2025
Guide was knowledgeable but sadly saw no turtles. They kept us longer on the beach in hope that we might see some but it was not to be.
Vikki_M, Jul 2025
Observing and witnessing such a fantastic event such as the Caretta Caretta returning to nest and lay their eggs was incredibly special. However, I likely would not choose to do this again. The whole experience I could only think about the poor isolated turtle with so many humans oggling at the sight. I researched prior to booking and thought that numbers of observers would be much lower. There were 12 in my group which felt comfortable only to find that there were several other groups at the same location with about 90 people in total. People did not take care in the groups and failed to follow requests from tourguides and used camera flashes. adults were selfishly crowding the turtle and being asked not to whilst others of us who respect nature and not wanting to overwhelme her more, missed out to these people continuing with their selfish acts to film probably for likes on their socials. Worst of all- they did this whilst stealing this experience from children who were unable to see past them.
I understood that there was a chance that Turtles may not be seen, but I feel this experience was far too populated to be kind and considerate to a species that is endangered.
leilah_H, Sep 2024
Excellent experience with nature. A must do when visiting Sal! We saw nesting and baby turtles hatching and heading to the sea. So brilliant!
Scott_R, Aug 2024
A once in a life time experience, watching the turtles, lay their eggs, cover their nest and return to the sea. Great guide and information about their protection program too. Highly recommended.
Paul_M, Aug 2024
Very entertaining host, very prompt on collection and great communications prior to collection. Would reccomend highly
Darren_S, Jul 2024
An experience never to be forgotten guides are very knowledgeable and want you to see turtles which we did . We watched as turtle birthed many eggs covered them all over and made her way back to the sea , all in our party were in awe.
Indy_v, Jul 2024
I loved this experience so much, it was very touching to see the process of the turtles nesting and to see the mother turtle make sure the eggs are safe. The first time I went, there were sadly no turtles (also due to some factors) and I was allowed to do it again the next evening which was the sweetest thing. The guides are awesome and make sure the turtle is safe and they are very knowledgeable. I would definitely recommend booking this with Sal Experience since it is just great and they are the sweetest people.
Andrea_P, Oct 2023
our guide Nanni and his coleagues were fantastic, they worked very hard for us to find turtles.
We did not see the turtles nesting but did witness seventeen turtles hatching.
Jenny_W, Sep 2023
Absolutely amazing experience. To have the privilege of seeing not just the babies make their way to the ocean but to also watch a mother come to shore and lay her nest was simply outstanding, thank you.
Sian_H, Sep 2023
Nani was a great tour guide! It was really cool to be down by the sea in the dark. It took a little while but the turtles came and it was amazing loved the experience!
Neil_R, Jul 2023
The guide was excellent. Multilingual expertise on the turtles, fantastic driver over the difficult terrain and a really nice guy. Very educational and a tourist experience marked by the appropriate respect for these awesome creatures. Also provided insight into the important scientific work being done by the government here. Thanks again & keep up the good work!!
Justyn_S, Sep 2022
Great Experience and couldn’t recommend tour and guide enough. He was very knowledgeable and was well worth the money to see the turtles
Matthew_C, Sep 2022
Highly recommended! We had a really great time on the turtle experience. The guide was very respectful of the turtles and very informative too.
SARIKA_V, Sep 2022
We were collected early from our hotel. The tour guide was very friendly and chatting away about the turtles. He gave us a brief before we arrived to the turtle beach. The other visitors were from different European countries. We were spoken to in good English and "Chan" explained the etiquettes. I have seen many turtles before but never witnessed them delivering their eggs. It was a sight of amazement. We were lucky and in addition, we saw 2 baby turtles making their way to the sea. We had little ambient light, but were directed by red light which did not disturb the turtles. If I could do this trip again I would like to spend longer on the beach and be able to support the turtle project. I would recommend a red light to assist your passage to the beach. Video footage was good and photos without flash were permitted.
Lucy_J, Aug 2022
We really were not sure how this excursion was going to turn out as you can’t guarantee nature however this evening was a treat!
We saw two turtles laying eggs on the beach. The night before the group saw hatchlings along the beach too. The guides were knowledgeable and we saw ecologists and volunteers logging information on the turtles when came on the beach. I would highly recommend this trip.
Response from Host, Sep 2022
Thanks for recommending us Lucy, we are very happy to hear you had a great experience and enjoyed it, our nature guide is a really great guide, very knowledgeable and respectful of the turtles' natural habitat and we are glad you are satisfied, thank you!
Peter_B, Aug 2022
.great experience with the local guide paying attention to the turtles environment while allowing to see them from very close by. A wonderful experience!
stephen_s, Aug 2022
Amazing experience
Tour guide was very knowledgeable and made the trip fantastic and fun
Managed to see a few turtles laying eggs in a protected environment
Nicola_F, Aug 2022
What an amazing evening. Chan was extremely patient and knowledgeable. He didn't rush us so we just got to see a turtle, he waited until he knew the turtle was happy and relaxed. We saw her dig her nest, lay her eggs, cover her eggs and finally make her way back to the sea. What an amazing experience all because of Chan.
Olivier_D, Jul 2022
The pickup at your stay is very useful, the drive to the beach is a fun experience on it's own. We had to wait a bit longer than usual due to the late nesting season, but after a while and with the good communication of our guide Chan we saw a few turtles nesting. This was probably a once in a lifetime experience for us. If you have the possibility to do this, we would surely advise you to do so!
Kim_v, Oct 2025
It was a top experience to see! Only they arrived 20 min late with pick up which was a shame but otherwise it was good
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antoine_s, Sep 2025
We saw a turtle laying eggs. It was the best part of our holiday. Realistic. We had been hesitant to do that and we would have been really dumb to miss out on that.
The guide seemed like a nice person also very funny.
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YERAY_C, Sep 2025
Well, it's respectful of turtles even though it doesn't meet the total number of people who can get close to the turtle.
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Juan_A, Aug 2025
We had to wait 1 hour at the beach with mosquitoes keeping us company, but in the end we saw a turtle spawn and it was a unique experience, if you like animals highly recommended
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From $48.03
per personup to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)
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Sal Island: Sea Turtle Experience from Santa Maria
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